Performance Music

An original work for strings orchestra, turntables and dub delay. The piece is an investigation of where noise stops, and music starts; inspired by the work of pioneering Amercian maverick and thinker; John Cage. Also, the work of experimental turntablists, and techniques of sampling.

Narrator - Phillip MacKenzie
Turntablist - DJ Jaffa
Dub Delay - Krissy Jenkins

'Breakbeat' - Performance Piece For String Orchestra, Turntables & Dub Delay.

A commission for an overtue for the St David's Day Concert in St David's Hall, Cardiff.

The titles refers to the illuminated letters in early Welsh manuscripts, I likened the overture to a musical equivalent, a brightly illuminated musical starting point.

BBC National Orchestra of Wales - 'Illuminare' Overture Commission

A commission featuring the captured voices of the people of Cardiff, interviewed over a week, with the assistance of writer and broadcaster; John Gower. Mixed with familiar sounds of the City, and abstract creative work of turntablist DJ Jaffa. a modern 'City Symphony'.

Sound Installation - 'Cardiff Cacophony' - Central Library Gallery

The first song in a Song Cycle commission by renowned baritone Jeremy Huw Williams, recorded here for the first time.

A plaintive, yet tender song set to a poem by R Bryn Williams about lost love, and a remembered kiss.

'Colled' (Loss), taken  from Song Cycle 'Dagrau ddoe' (Yesterday's Tears)

Atgyfodi gan John Meirion Rea

Yn ein harchifau yr ydym yn cadw a chasglu ein straeon – y personol a’r Cenedlaethol; boed hynny ar bapur, silindr Edison, shellac, feinil, tâp, ffilm neu ddisg galed, y rhain yw gweadau’r côf, hanes, diwylliant, perthyn a’n hunaniaeth.

Mae Atgyfodi yn cyflwyno lleisiau a recordiadau coll o archifau sain Amgueddfa Werin Cymru yn Sain Ffagan trwy gyfrwng gosodweithiau trwythol sy’n cyfuno sain amgylchynol, delweddau a ffeindiwyd a rhai a ffilmiwyd yn benodol. Wrth blethu’r rhain gyda chyfansoddiadau cerddorol cyfoes, caiff y lleisiau a’r recordiadau, a’r hyn y maent yn ei gynrychioli, eu dychwelyd i gôf y genedl. Caiff y caneuon a’r straeon eu gweu fel ‘collage’ gyda recordiadau maes o safleoedd gwreiddiol adeiladau’r amgueddfa a recordiadau gwreiddiol o leisiau pobl a llefydd eiconig neu leisiau o bwysigrwydd symbolaidd fel Tyrone O’Sullivan o Bwll Glo Tower a’r ffermwr Arthur Morris Roberts, a welodd foddi Capel Celyn pan roedd yn fachgen ifanc.

Mae Atgyfodi yn bwrw golau ar gyfoeth traddodiad cerddorol Cymru: Caneuon a straeon sy’n cael eu canu a’u hadrodd gan bobl go iawn. Fe ddylanwadodd gweadau a seiniau’r bywydau yma ar arddull gyfansoddiadol y gerddoriaeth a phroses greu’r prosiect. Wrth galon y cyfan roedd yr alawon traddodiadol, y farddoniaeth a rhythmau soniarus yr iaith lafar. Wrth greu cyfansoddiadau mewn ymateb i hyn ac yn ffrâm gerddorol o’u cwmpas, mae’r caneuon gwreiddiol yn datblygu’n felodig a harmonig. Mae lle yma hefyd i gerddorion cyfoes sy’n defnyddio offerynnau traddodiadol Cymreig i ail-ddehongli a byrfyfyrio. Wrth hynny, mae’r ‘cylch’ creadigol yn cael ei gwblhau gan gynnig ail-ddehongliad o hen draddodiadau.

Cyflwynir Atgyfodi gyda Cherddorfa Genedlaethol Gymreig y BBC, perfformiadau ar y crwth, y pibgorn, y ffidil a’r chwiban gan Cass Meurig a
Patrick Rimes, a lluniau a delweddau a ffilmiwyd yn arbennig gan Huw Talfryn Walters. Bydd y cyfanwaith gorffenedig, gan gynnwys y deunydd ffilm crai a’r recordiadau maes, yn cael cartref parhaol yn archif Amgueddfa Werin Sain Ffagan.

Archives are where we deposit and gather our stories, both on a personal and National level; whether on paper, Edison cylinder, shellac, vinyl, tape, film, hard drive, these are all the textures of memory, of history, culture, of belonging and identity.

Atgyfodi by John Meirion Rea

Atgyfodi introduces the lost voices and recordings from the sound archives of The National Museum of History: St Fagans in the form of an immersive surround-sound installation with found and specially filmed images. These are interwoven complemented by a contemporary musical composition, returning them, and what they represent, into our collective memory. The songs and stories are ‘collaged’ with original field recordings made in the original locations of the historic buildings of the Museum, also places and people of iconic or symbolic importance such as Tower Colliery’s Tyrone O’Sullivan, and farmer Arthur Morris Roberts who witnessed the drowning of Capel Celyn as a young boy. 

Atgyfodi brings to light a rich, partly hidden Welsh musical tradition: songs and stories sung and told by real people. The compositional approach was influenced by the textures and sounds of these lives; the traditional melodies, the poetry and musicality of the spoken word guiding the process.

Atgyfodi - Gwaith cerddorol a sain aml-gyfrwng / Mutli-media performance work

Since leaving Cardiff University and an early career sessioning & arranging for Dave Stewart’s Anxious Records in London, John has subsequently enjoyed a long and successful career as a composer for concert platform, theatre, television and film, also experimenting with sound installation, and sound-art. His numerous interests and abilities find him playing rock and roll piano for The Manic Street Preachers one day, and composing for the BBC National Orchestra of Wales the next...

Alongside numerous nominations, John’s awards include two BAFTA Wales Awards in the ‘Best Original Music’ category: in 1995, and 2000 for specially composed scores: for the BBC commissioned film featuring contemporary dance company Cyrff Ystwyth, directed by Paul Islwyn Thomas, and his orchestral score for the BBC Wales arts series ‘The Big Picture’ directed by Ceri Sherlock.

John’s interest in sound and music first appeared in a groundbreaking piece called Breakbeat for string orchestra and four turntables/samplers (in collaboration with DJ’s Bench & Jaffa) which was shown as part of the S4C series The Composers. Other commissions include work for The BBC National Orchestra Of Wales, The Arts Council of Wales, The Welsh National Orchestra Brass Consort, Element Films, Walk The Plank, The Wales Millennium Centre, KPM Music, Red Bee Media. The list continues to grow!

Performance Music

John Meirion Rea: Music, Interdisciplinary.